December 26, 2014

In the stacks at the Windham Public Library - By Jen Alvino

Our
first deliveries from the Minerva consortium began rolling in to the library
last week. It is exciting to see the community already taking advantage of all
that the consortium has to offer. If you haven’t taken a look at the catalog,
visit our website or stop in and talk with a staff person for a quick tutorial.
This week we will be connected to the MaineCat catalog which includes items
from Portland Public, Bangor Public, the University of Maine system libraries
as well as Colby, Bates and Bowdoin. This allows for even greater access to
library items throughout the state.

Staff
members are continuing to familiarize themselves with the new software and work
processes. They are doing a great job learning while still providing the
wonderful service that you have always received. I’m so proud of all the
library staff members and how they worked as a team to accomplish the goal of
joining the consortium. The transition went very well!

You
may remember that we held a fine amnesty in November. I would like to extend my
thanks to those of you that visited us during our Food for Fines week. We sent
out many letters and publicized this fine amnesty week widely. Many of you
responded by bringing back long overdue items and giving us non-perishable
items in lieu of fines on your account. This was so helpful to clear up our
records before our software transition. We were able to make a sizable donation
to the Windham Food Pantry. Thank you!

We
have some exciting new monthly programs that have either recently begun or will
be starting in 2015. We host a knitting group and beginning in January will
hold a monthly genealogy program. Thanks to the support of our Friends group we
have purchased a movie license and now show a tween/teen movie and a movie
geared toward an adult audience once a month. In addition, in the Children’s
Room on Monday, December 29th at 1 p.m. children’s performer Buster
B (a.k.a Shawn Hennessy) will lead us through song, dance and movement.Join us! All programs are free and open to
the public. Be sure to visit our website www.windham.lib.me.us and Facebook
page for the most up to date news and information about all our programs or
call 207-892-1908.